Cathy's Art Diary

Surprising fair at Glynde Place specialising in ceramics. I say surprising as it was huge! Having been to an event at the house before I expected a few stalls around the house but instead it was set in marquees in the extensive grounds. We had gone to see our friend Eve Shepherd’s sculptural work and were pleased to see she had won a prize. However, we also discovered lots of beautiful and enticing things. I was so tempted to buy but resisted as I already have more small bowls and mugs than a girl will ever need. The visit was enhanced by it being a gloriously sunny day. Closed 24 May 2026

Passionate interview at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival of the author and art historian, Katy Hessel. Interviewed by Jon King, Hessel, author of the now famous "The History of Art Without Men" was discussing her new book "How to Live an Artful Life" which brings together daily quotes from artists and writers on creativity to inspire. I was astonished at how well she remembered quotes. The discussion broadened out into the barriers people face going into art galleries and the role of art. I loved Hessel saying that art is the truest representation of a time. The event had been due to have another speaker, Kate Bryan, who has written "How to Art" who had to pull out at the last minute. Hessel ably filled the evening but a second voice might have broadened the discussion.

Charming interview at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival with the artist, Rose Wylie Wylie was amusingly interviewed by the actor James Norton who owns a painting by her. He was very good at giving her space to speak, reserving questions for when they were needed but not taking a dogged approach to ask them all. Wylie was open and witty. Jennifer Higgie, art critic and editor of Frieze, was also on the panel to add a commentary but I suspect also as backup in case Wylie, who is 92 had struggled, which she did not. Wylie was guided to talk about a selection of her work which was being shown on screens which led her to muse on the titles of her works such as one called "Jumbo Meat Cleaver" because it was in the shape of a meat cleaver, the role of text in her work and the role of fame in her work. There were some brilliant quotes from her, "The older you get the more memories you have. The more you have to work with", as we laughed at one o...

Moving discussion at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival examining a joint project between the Imperial War Museum and Liberty to look at creativity in war and imprisonment. The catalyst had been the experience of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was on the panel, of getting Liberty material she had collected over the years, sent to her when she was imprisoned in Iran and the benefits of being able to be creative during that time. She talked about how she had shared the material with fellow inmates and other creative endeavours they had shared. James Bulgin and Rebecca Newell from the museum brought an insight into how Zaghari-Ratcliffe's experiences had chimed with their collection and they shared other moving stories of creativity in confinement with illustrations form the collection. Ester Coen, an art historian who has been working with Liberty on their 150th anniversary celebrations talked about the idea of working with Zaghari-Ratcliffe to design thre...

Thin exhibition at Charleston Farmhouse on the campaigning Gorilla Girls. The show brought together a number of their groundbreaking posters displayed multiple times as if on a street or the external walls of a gallery. The room was dominated by their iconic "Do Women Have to Be Naked…" poster which looked amazing in the space. Other posters were shown in groups. I found reading them interesting as they weren't always as strident as I had assumed and many were making sensible suggestions to art galleries about how to address issues of inequality, many of which I have seen institutions responding to. I just say thin as it concentrated on the posters as art objects, but I would have liked to see more about other work the group has done and some analysis of its effects. Closes 6 September 2026

Dense exhibition at Charleston Farmhouse looking at the history of the Hogarth Press. The press was started by Virginia and her husband Leonard in 1917 with the aim of publishing authors with radial new voices who might otherwise not get into print. They also treated books as art objects, commissioning striking book covers. I say dense about this show as the displays were mainly of books and it was very text heavy in its explanations. I am a self-confessed Bloomsbury nerd so I loved it, but I imagine if you were new to the subject it might leave you a bit cold. I was at the house for the start of the Charleston Festival so followed up my visit to the exhibition with the first two talks of the event, both on the Hogarth Press. The first brought together two current publishers with a similar ethos, Margaret Busby and Sharmiane Lovergrove in conversation with Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize.   This was followed by a gala style performance with Anton Lesser readin...